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“Compressor Processing” question
i am rendering a 2 minute clip from my DVCPro HD timeline, and it seems like is taking WAAYYY too long. the last go ’round took about 5 hours, and this one is coming up on the same. the “Compressor Processing” status window has the frame counter on the left, and it goes all the way through the clip (which is right at 3600 frames), but when it reaches 3600 it starts over again…several times. i’m guessing it is doing one pass for each layer of video and audio??? i don’t really know and wondered if any of you guys might know. really its’ just something i’m wondering as i sit and wait for this thing to finish. the bigger question is why is it taking so stinking long to render???? here are some of the stats: the vast majority of the clip is a nested sequence (is that the right name for this?) inside of this main sequence. the nested sequence is comprised of a layer of HD material on the bottom, a single static graphic on top of that, then a single layer of DVCPro HD video on top of that which has been cropped and a single filter applied to it (a “Chromatic Glow”). all this, and only really two tracks of sound.
i’ve recently upgraded to FCS 2 and wonder if something was slowed down in the rendering engines? as a side note, a super-duper graphics card won’t help at all with rendering, will it? i’m planning on getting the ATI X1900 soon anyway, but just wondering if it might be of some benefit in the rendering area (though i’m guessing not)
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________dual 2 GHz PowerPC Mac G5
2GB MB DDR SDRAM
GeForce FX 5200 graphics card -
5 Replies
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You didn’t say what codec you were Compressing to? It makes a big difference.
Also….if you use the Send to Compressor Command within FCP, Compressor does not use your FCP render files, but rather re-renders everything directly to your target codec…this can take a VERY long time with many target codecs. Especially with all your layers. It can give you a slightly cleaner result, but may not be worth the time in many instances.
If you want a more reasonable encoding time…render everything in FCP…then export a Quicktime reference movie. Drag that into Compressor and encode away…this will be much faster, and will probably yield acceptable results.
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Hi Mortime,
As John says when sending to Compressor from the time-line everything is re-render. So if you got everything rendered in your time-line you can export a refference movie or a full movie (try to set the “Compression markers) and Compressor will work much faster.
I’ve got the habit of using the “Activity monitor” when rendering with FC or Compressor. The main window give you information about the CPU use (%). Also the “Disk Activity” window give you information about the data that the disks are reading and writing. Those values can give you a tip if there is any thing slowing down the rendering.
Cheers,
Rafael -
i was compressing to H.264, 300 mbps…and it was taking just way to freaking long…so i’m trusting you and i busted out of my render. now rendering the clip as a self-contained movie, then will try the “drag to” function into Compressor at the H.264 as above.
thanks for the tip, it looks like it will be a major improvement…
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________dual 2 GHz PowerPC Mac G5
2GB MB DDR SDRAM
GeForce FX 5200 graphics card -
Thanks Guys!
This technique worked great! Saved a BUNCH of time, just wish i had known about it sooner (actually, i probably had read about it and forgot…getting rather feeble). If you have any more input the use of “Compression Markers” that might be a good topic…
thanks for helping out a bonehead!
__________________________dual 2 GHz PowerPC Mac G5
2GB MB DDR SDRAM
GeForce FX 5200 graphics card -
Mortimer,
In the Ken Stone web-site you got a very good article call “Compression and Chapter Markers” by Ken Stone. If you export a refference movie is not necesary to set them.
cheers,
rafael
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